Simon Sinek: A Good Leader Serves

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” implored John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1961. On that day, Kennedy did more than ask us to serve our country, he asked us to lead our country so that our country could lead.

The irony of being a good leader

This is the irony to being a good leader and great leadership. The truly effective and inspiring leaders aren’t actually driven to lead people; they are driven to serve them. It is this subtle twist of logic that earns a good leader the loyalty and respect of those who ultimately serve them back. For a leader to be a leader he needs a following. And why should any individual want to follow another individual unless they felt that person would look out for them and their interests?

If you have anyone who reports to you at work, be it one person or 100, your job, if you want to be a good leader, is to help them be good at their job. This doesn’t mean doing their work for them; it means helping them get the resources and the information they need for them to perform their own jobs as well as they can. It also means watching their back and helping them fix mistakes when they make them. The more you do that, the more you will earn their trust so when you need them to go the extra mile for you, they will — gladly. Not because you’re their boss, but because they respect and trust you.

A good leader cultivates a culture

Leadership is as much an environment as it is a practice. People should generally feel that you’re there to help them be the best version of themselves. A good leader builds a culture of service (i.e., if anyone asks for help or reveals that they don’t know something, someone will be there to support them). A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.

a good leader serves

Leaders lead not because they serve those above them; they lead because they serve those who serve them.